The High Court has ordered the authorities concerned to form a high-powered committee to review all the power contracts signed between the Bangladesh government and the Adani Group of India. The court directed to submit a report within two months.
The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury issued the order on Tuesday after the hearing of a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer M. Abdul Qaiyum who sought the cancellation or revaluation of the deal, claiming it to be unfair.
The HC bench also instructed the submission of all documents related to the power purchase deal between the Power Division and Adani Group within the next month.
The court issued a rule seeking explanation as to why the deal which is criticised as unfair and against the country’s interests should not be annulled.
The court ordered inclusion of internationally renowned energy and legal experts in the high-powered committee to review the deal in detail.
Besides, the higher court ordered the relevant authorities to form another committee to investigate the process of the agreement’s execution and submit a report to the court.
During the hearing, lawyer M. Abdul Qaiyum, lawyers Mohammad Moniruzzaman, Afrroza Firoz, and Kamrun Mahmud stood for the petitioner.
Earlier on November 6, Abdul Qaiyum sent a legal notice to the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and the Ministry of Energy, asking them to review or cancel the deal with Adani Group in three days.
The notice warned that if the issue was not addressed, a writ petition would be filed in the High Court seeking necessary directives.
After no response to the legal notice, the writ petition was filed, urging the government to revise the terms of the agreement on the grounds of fairness, equity, and national interest. The petition also sought the annulment of the agreement if the Adani Group refused to make the changes.
In the writ petition, the lawyer said that many experts have reportedly opined that under the agreement, Bangladesh will pay significantly higher prices in comparison to what it pays for its other coal-based power for lower-grade coal.
The coal will be supplied from an Adani-owned mine in Australia to an Adani-owned port in India from where it will get shipped to the Godda plant, which is in a coal-mining state (at the expenses of Bangladesh).
The writ petition referred to an Aljazeera report that said, ‘BPDB was basically locked into a power purchase agreement that allows Adani to import coal into an Indian coal mining state from Australia and pass the full cost onto Bangladesh.’
Abdul Qaiyum in the petition said, ‘It is inconceivable that how such a one-sided agreement was executed by the BPDB unless officials involved were managed by Adani Group.’
The power deal with Adani Group has raised serious concerns about overpricing from the start.
The 25-year power purchase agreement was signed between the Bangladesh government and the Adani Power (Jharkhand) Limited on November 5 in 2017.
At that time, no imported coal-based power plant was started in the country.
Electricity is supplied to Bangladesh from Adani’s 1,600 MW power plant in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand.
The Adani costs Bangladesh about 12 taka ($0.1008) a unit. That is 27% higher than the rate of India’s other private producers and as much as 63% more than Indian state-owned plants.
Bangladesh is now struggling to clear dues to Adani Power because of difficulty in accessing dollars to make payment.
